


spoiled rotten

by yaoyorozoops



Series: AU-gust 2020 [3]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Gen, Post-Apocalypse, Zombies, quarantine vibes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-06
Updated: 2020-08-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:54:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25744651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yaoyorozoops/pseuds/yaoyorozoops
Summary: after years of killing zombies with your friends, life can get a bit... boring.
Relationships: Katara & Zuko (Avatar)
Series: AU-gust 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1862572
Kudos: 11





	spoiled rotten

Aang and his friends sat around a small campfire, listening to the breeze among the towering pine trees, and feeling each spark of the flame as it grew and lulled in time with the wind. The fire was special to them, not only for Zuko and Azula’s family connection to it, but because it always reminded them how considerably hard it had been starting the first one. What was it, two years ago? Maybe almost three now.

“You’re sure we have to start a fire?” One would think Zuko was the one scared of fire, but apparently Toph had been burned once, too. Plus, she didn’t need light to see.

“As much as I hate to say it, I agree with Toph,” Katara said, with the same stern, motherly voice Sokka and, to some extent, Aang knew very well. “We’re sitting ducks here, if the monsters see us. A fire will just attract a whole hoard.”

Azula made a small, derisive “hmph” sound.

“What?” Katara’s motherly voice was now filled with a bit more anger.

Azula’s eyebrows raised in just the way they always did when she was trying to push someone’s buttons. Which gave Zuko a bad feeling in his stomach. “Are you scared of a little monster? I thought you’d be a bit braver after what happened to your mother.”

Katara stood, fists raised. “Oh, you want fire? I’ll give you fire.”

Sokka stood too, rushing in front of Katara before she could do anything she’d inevitably regret. Even if Sokka, too, wanted to see Azula put in her place. “Heeyy, ladies, no need to fight. Besides, even if those Growlies do come to kill us, I can protect you all with my mighty sword!”

Of course Sokka took his sword with him. It had cost a small fortune on eBay, so there was no way he’d part with it. Unfortunately, his boomerang hadn’t been so lucky when they’d had their first run-in with what he’d affectionately named “Growlies”.

Katara sat down. It got them nowhere fighting. She looked over to Azula, who was still smirking, staring right at her like she knew she’d won. Katara clenched and unclenched her fists, knowing she had to be the bigger woman. But sometimes with Azula, it was so goddamn hard.

Aang spoke up, unbothered by the girls' argument. He was much more concerned with what Sokka said. "Are you sure we should be so thoughtless with whatever we're killing? I mean, we still don't know anything about them."

The silence stretched forward for a few seconds, accentuated by the constant chirping of crickets.

"Aang… you haven't seen what they can do." Katara muttered, eyes fixed on the ground. He looked back over to Sokka, who was also looking at his shoes.

"Ugh, can we just stop fighting and light the fire?" Zuko jumped up and knelt next to the makeshift fire pit they'd created.

After a pause, he spoke again, this name with a much lower voice. "Does anyone know how to start a fire?"

“Well, I’d better get to bed.” Zuko rubbed his eyes and headed to his tent.

“Yeah, there’s a whole lot of nothing to do tomorrow.” Aang kicked his feet back, resting them on the edge of the firepit. "Ugh, this is so boring. Is there anything fun to do around here?"

“Well, there’s scavenging. Plus, I planned for us to pick berries tomorrow!” Katara tried to sound excited.

The group was silent until Sokka scoffed, “Berries?”

Katara gave him a scolding look. "We have to eat."

Sokka fell onto his back, on the ground next to Aang. "Man, I miss not having to survive all the time."

"I miss being able to just kill things instead of having to pick berries and listen to Bossy Butt all the time." Toph said, a fond look on her face as she reminisced.

"That's it!" Aang sprung up, and pointed at Toph.

"What's it?"

"We can go Growly hunting!"

Katara furrowed her eyebrows, confused. "Hunting? Like hunting-hunting?"

Zuko stepped back into the conversation, now with PJs and a toothbrush. "What are you guys hunting?"

Aang’s smile was now wide with excitement for his great idea. "Yeah! Think about it! All we do now is chores, wouldn't it be fun to just go on an adventure again?"

"But there aren't many monsters left," Katara said.

"Wait, Aang! What if we---" Sokka started to whisper in Aang's ear, ignoring Katara’s protests.

"Exactly, Sokka. We can make a game of it: whoever kills the most, wins!"

"What's the prize?" Toph asked.

Sokka had the answer, putting a hand to his chin like he was thinking, but he already had the thought in his mind. "How about... others will do your laundry for a month."

“Two months and you have a deal.”

“Wait guys. Isn’t it dangerous to go alone? I mean, we’ll have to go pretty far to find any monsters, if there really are any left.”

The next morning, they drew straws to decide teams of two.

Aang and Toph were the first drawn. They’d become good friends over the years, even with all the teasing. Plus, they made a great team fighting Growlies. Both of them had adopted the name from Sokka.

Sokka drew next and then Azula. Which made both Zuko and Katara snicker and made Toph burst into laughter. Although none of them admit it, all of them still didn’t really like Azula. And that grouping was hilarious to think about.

Katara and Zuko were the last team by default. Katara wasn’t too happy-- their relationship had gotten better over the years, but she was pretty anxious to go back out and hunt. And, well, Zuko wasn’t known to be the most reserved person, especially when it came to hunting the monsters who had been tormenting them for years now.

They started walking to the South. Neither of them spoke for a long while, waiting to find something useful for their hunt. After a few hours, though, they’d given up ignoring each other and both started at the same time:

“So.”

“So.”

Zuko cringed, then said, “You go first.”

“No, you.”

Zuko sighed, knowing she probably would never give up if they went on like this. “Well, I was just going to talk about, well. What do you think of this weather?”

Katara smirked slightly at his choice of conversation. “Actually, it’s too hot. I wish we’d waited a few months to do this weird ‘competition’.”

Zuko nodded, “Yeah, I know. Why’d we even do this in the first place? I mean, Aang and Toph are both bored out of their minds; my sister and your brother are both painfully competitive. But why are we out here?”

“Good question.”

The conversation lulled once again. Katara decided maybe the only way to keep from the terribly boring silence was to tell him the truth. “Well, if I’m being honest, I’d be nice for someone else to do laundry for a change.”

The ground opened down into a small ravine with a trickling creek in the center. Zuko jumped down the ledge before replying. “I understand. It’d be nice if someone else cooked for a change, too.” It was a subtle jab, mostly at his sister, who seemed to do nothing useful. At least not if it benefited him in any way. 

Katara followed him down the gorge, careful not to snag anything. “Do you think we’ll actually find a--”

Just on time, they both heard the distinct growl, low and guttural. They became utterly silent, and exchanged looks.

“We haven’t seen one in months…” Katara whispered underneath her breath, and she could feel her heart beating faster already.

Zuko, too, could feel the adrenaline kicking in and reached for the knife he held at his side. Katara tried to, as quietly as possible, open up her bag and grab her own knife. Both of them were rusty, but it didn’t matter anymore. They split up, trying to find the source of the sound.

Katara went left, feeling her feet against the ground with every step, doing the best she could to be silent. She was faster on her feet than Zuko, and reached the monster first. “Ha,” she said, too excited to think. She practically leaped at the creature, ready to strike. But her sound had given her away. She miscalculated her attack, and because the monster had time to move, she lost her balance and ended up on the ground.

Zuko went right, but almost immediately heard Katara shouting. He rushed towards the sound and found her quickly. “It went that way,” Katara said, pointing in the opposite direction. 

He stopped and down knelt next to her. “Katara, are you okay?” He looked her up and down for signs of a bite. “Were you bitten?”

“No, just go find it! It’s one measly monster, I’m sure you can kill it on your own.”

Zuko frowned. “That’s not the reason I stopped,” he muttered, frustrated. He looked in the direction of where Katara had pointed, hearing that same growl. “Just-- ugh, wait here. Don’t get eaten.” As he ran off, he heard Katara groan at his remark.

He broke into a clearing, and saw the monster. It was short; it probably was once a child. Its leg was broken, so it was slow. Zuko sprinted, no time to do so quietly. This would be easy, just as long as he could catch it and stab its brain. He stepped closer and closer, reaching out his arm to attack when--

The creature fell backwards, nearly tripping him. Zuko almost yelled at the sudden movement, then quickly figured out what had happened.

“Kat-- don’t do that!”

Katara laughed hysterically. “I guess you couldn’t kill it all on your own.”

Zuko groaned loudly, in no way amused. “Come on, let’s get going.”

The way back was worse than the way there. It had taken them almost three hours to get there, and over two to talk at all. But, on the way back, Katara laughed for longer than necessary, until she tired herself out. Then, after that, neither of them said much.

Zuko pointed out some wildlife, though he couldn’t care much.

Then, to stop the monotonous silence, he groaned, rubbing his temples, and decided to just come out with what was on his mind. “Why did you let Aang and the others do this? I know you want everyone to be safe, I do too. So why did you allow them all to do something this dangerous? You said earlier it was about chores, but… that can’t be all. I’m…”

He paused for a few minutes too long.

“I’m worried to death about them.”

Katara tried to ignore the question. She tried to speed up walking to get out of his sight, but he just kept in time with her steps. Then, she finally spoke. “The truth is, I’m bored, too. Even scavenging has gone stale. I mean, last month I found a whole cabinet full of jewelry, and I didn’t even care enough to take anything! What’s the point if there’s no one to wear it for? We’re all too busy doing absolutely nothing. I… I don’t wanna be just the ‘mom’ anymore, you know? We’re still young…” She trailed off, not wanting to finish that thought.

“Katara. What if there were more people?”

Katara scoffed. “Don’t get my hopes up.”

Zuko stopped walking, his fists tightening. “We don’t know if we don’t look.”

“What are you talking about, Zuko?” Katara turned slowly, facing him.

His good eye glistened with determination. “If we can go on this excursion, what is stopping us from venturing further? It’s not like there’s anything here for us.” He stepped closer to her, close enough to see her shoulders start to shake with anticipation. “Run away with me?”

The smallest hint of a smile on his face broke her resolve, and she let herself breathe. “As long as the others can come along.”

Zuko gave a small, embarrassed laugh, realizing how poorly he’d phrased his question. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

They were the first ones back. They’d brought along one of the monster’s limbs as proof, that they both refused to carry, so it went into Katara’s bag. They sat next to the fire pit, although it wasn’t yet time to start a fire.

By the time the sun was setting, Aang and Toph made it back. To Zuko and Katara’s surprise, they also brought back proof of only one kill.

Just as the group was starting to worry, Sokka and Azula came practically crawling back to the camp, carrying a severed head. The others exchanged nervous looks upon seeing how beaten up the two of them were. “Don’t ask,” Sokka said, dejected. Azula avoided eye contact.

“I guess we all have to do each other’s laundry,” Toph sighed.

All of them laughed. Zuko looked at Katara, and knew they were both going to wait a while to ask the rest about their plan. Maybe just a bit more time to stay here, just a bit more time to be a little bit boring.

**Author's Note:**

> Oh man, the title's so cheesy skdfjkds. Well, I guess the whole thing's cheesy. I haven't written fanfic in so long,,


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